Photo Essay: The San Franciscans

I got such a positive response to last week’s A-Z Challenge: Idiosyncrasies and Weekly Photo Challenge: Free Spirit that I decided to expand those concepts into a full-on photo essay.

Yep, we’re a diverse, interesting, lively group, we San Franciscans. Other places claim to be “the melting pot,” but no city embraces worldly differences as warmly as San Francisco. We come from every nation in the world, and we’ve woven our unique cultural idiosyncrasies into the very fabric of a city that has long embraced and encouraged individuality. That’s a lot of creative ideas crashing into one place, and we wear that creative spirit on our sleeves. We know we’re lucky to live in an amazing place that lets us be exactly who we are, and we express it in loud, proud, often garish, but always intriguing terms.

Call us weird, wacky,  free-spirited, freaks, hippies, the land of fruits and nuts … whatever … just as long as you call us what we are: San Franciscans, and proud of it, dammit!

Ladies and gentlemen, for your enjoyment, say hello to “The San Franciscans, Part 1.”

About Stephen Kelly Creative

Hi, I'm Stephen Kelly, a writer, editor, photographer and graphic designer living in beautiful San Francisco, CA, USA. Amongst the things I love are writing, photography, movies, music, fitness, travel, Batman, all things Australian, food and fun, all of which I hope to reflect in this here blog. Welcome aboard ... now let's get busy!
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27 Responses to Photo Essay: The San Franciscans

  1. Angeline M says:

    Fantastic arsenal of photos; it IS a great City by virtue of the individuality that creates the greatness. Really love your photos.

  2. Impybat says:

    Ahhhh, why don’t I live there? I should never have come home when I visited in 2002 😦

  3. cocomino says:

    It sounds very fun. Nice photo collections.

  4. adinparadise says:

    Wonderful photos. They make me want to go back to San Fran. for another look. 🙂

  5. drewpan says:

    What a nice collection of people… although it seems like SF only has small dogs! Where’d all the huskies go?

    • Hey Drew … since the prices of houses in San Francisco are so high, the majority of people live in apartments and condos, spaces too small to accommodate a big dog. So you see a lot of pugs, Boston terriers, Chihuahuas and beagles. You still see big dogs in some of the home-centric parts of the city … lots of labs, huskies, and Golden retrievers. Personally, I would love to have an Alaskan Malamute, but my space is way too small for a big dog like that. Besides, my building doesn’t allow animals, not even cats.

  6. What a wonderful afternoon stroll I had around your San Fransisco – it’s looking cleaner than when I was there in the mid-70s, but just as wild and whacky 🙂

  7. Wonderful photos, Stephen! Do you have to ask them to take their photos, or do they just take it all in stride and assume that of course, you want their photo? When does the Autumn Moon Festival start, and is it celebrated by all Chinatowns (i.e., is it a cultural holiday at large, or is it taking place only in San Francisco?).

    • Hi Victoria! In some cases, I will ask the subject if they mind being photographed, but I usually just shoot away. Most people here in SF don’t mind.
      The Autumn Moon Festival is usually held the last weekend of September … this year the dates are September 22-23. LOVE the Autumn Moon Festival. Lots of fun!!!

  8. Paula says:

    Flowers, music, pooches and a lot of fat, disguised people …. guess which of those I like 😀

  9. Madhu says:

    Brilliant photo essay! Seems like everyone is a free spirit here Stephen. And no one appears to be giving the whaco’s a second glance! Reason enough to migrate! imagining that nude man on an Indian street 😆

    • Hey there, Madhu! Yep, when you live here long enough, you don’t even pay it a second mind. san francisco fully embraces its “anything goes” persona, so anything goes! and no one seems to mind. that’s the beauty of living here.

  10. vicentesf says:

    The Castro/Market/17th intersection pic is my fave! I see it all the time, but you caught quite the diverse crowd!

  11. Pingback: 5 types of photos that make for strong photo essays, audio slideshows | Poynter.

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